The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW – 08.22.94
So this is a taped repackage of the Sunday Night Slam show from the night before, with commentary redone. I assume it’s still from Lowell, Massachusetts like last week.
Your hosts are Vince & Macho in the studio and Jim Ross & Gorilla Monsoon on commentary.
Lex Luger v. Crush
Finally, the TV blowoff of the house show feud that had been boring audiences around the country! Watching the buildup for Summerslam 94 makes me wonder why the hell I even ordered it at the time. Luger works an ALL AMERICAN headlock to start and the crowd is going crazy even though everyone on screen is sitting down and looking bored. Not to mention there are literally dozens of empty seats visible in the low sections. Crush pounds away and tries a piledriver, but Lex powers out and puts him onto the floor with an ALL AMERICAN shoulderblock. Back in, Crush goes to work on the back and gets a backbreaker for two. They slug it out and Crush goes to a camel clutch and pounds on the back for two. This makes soccer look exciting and high-stakes by way of comparison. And now it’s the bearhug as Ted Dibiase joins us and we take a break. Back with Luger getting a small package for two, but Crush keeps slowly pounding on the back before they finally collide for the double KO. Luger comes back with clotheslines and a DDT for two, but Crush kicks him in the back to put him down again. Dibiase offers to buy Crush, but gets chased off (huh?) and Lex finishes with the STAINLESS STEEL FOREARM OF DEATH at 15:08. That was a weird finish. I bet if Dibiase had said the money was for guns or drugs Crush would have been happy to take it. Or maybe he just thought there was cops in the front row? Was that supposed to start a babyface turn for Crush or something? *1/2
Meanwhile, Savage gets the DNA results back and learns that Lex Luger has sold out, according to SCIENCE. I wonder if they just gave him a bag of coke and a sheet of paper and let him cut loose with this stuff.
Meanwhile, we get a recap of the Owen v. Bret feud thus far.
Earlier this week, (probably earlier this MONTH judging by the taping blocks at the time) Bret gives his side of the story on Superstars. Headline: Jim Neidhart is FAT and also STUPID. That’s just mean. Why cost yourself potential buys from the fat and stupid portion of your audience? Had to be at least 40% or so judging by the explosion of the internet at the time.
Meanwhile, Leslie Nielsen gets Domino’s Pizza delivered by the Undertaker as we’re hitting new lows for the week.
Diesel v. Typhoon
Typhoon chases Diesel out of the ring after a splash, and he gets some advice from Shawn. That advice: “If you feel like you’re going to have to job the title, fake a knee injury and vacate it instead.” Back in, Diesel with a fairly impressive running shoulderblock and an elbow for two. Diesel holds a neck vice while Shawn engages in intellectual discourse with the front row. Good thing he wasn’t on the other side of the ring or he’d only have empty seats to taunt. Seriously, they couldn’t have moved some people over for TV? That’s WCW-level embarrassing. Typhoon pounds away in the corner and gets a corner splash, but Diesel finishes with a running clothesline out of nowhere at 8:00. And to think they put the World title on this guy three months later! DUD
Meanwhile, Razor Ramon and Walter Payton practice their stereo toothpick throwing.
Next week: Tennis! When we return in two weeks, it’s the fallout from Summerslam, not that this boring show did anything to make me want to see it again.
Scott, did you really expect Diesel to get a good match out of F'N TYPHOON for crying out loud?
ReplyDeleteAt least Typhoon didn't fall down during his entrance
ReplyDeleteYeah weird comment considering I doubt Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels combined could have gotten a good match out of Fred Ottman.
ReplyDeleteThe devil couldn't grant a wish in exchange for a soul that required a good match from Uncle Fred.
ReplyDeleteSeriously it's like if they put Bryan with Khali and everyone's like "He didn't have a good match! NEVER GIVE HIM THE TITLE!!!!!!!!"
ReplyDeletePlus I was a mark during this time and I liked the match because I was a fan of Diesel and was happy just to see him win clean since midcard faces were protected a lot of the time.
ReplyDeleteYou sure seemed to know a lot of smark terminology and insider booking patterns for a so called mark.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Crush was seen on television again after this until his appearance at the Rumble, so I don't think they had any plans for the guy.
ReplyDeleteWell when I first saw this match, I wasn't expecting Diesel to win so decisively. I expected a ton of Shawn interference so Diesel could get a cheap win or Diesel to get DQ'd. Even as a dumb mark I normally rooted for the cool heel a lot of the time.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know Uncle Fred went back to the WWF.
ReplyDeleteOnly other tv match I recall with Fred was a tag match as he partnered with Mabel to take on Yoko and Crush. And I think that later segued into a match between Yoko and Mabel.
ReplyDeleteRAW : Treading water for over 20 years!
ReplyDeleteYou're right, clearly he would go on to have the highest-drawing title reign of all time with a string of **** matches.
ReplyDeleteWell he had good matches with opponents who could go.
ReplyDeleteThe big reason Diesel became over in the first place was because he was a heel that won most his matches during a time when it was a pretty rare thing to see.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't USA ever do any cross promotion between WWF and the US Open.
ReplyDeleteI would have popped for a Pete Sampras run-in.
Thankfully, I was a huge mark at the time and stuck through this shit.
ReplyDeleteWait a minute! Was that 1994 me or 2014 me?
WE'RE OUT OF TIME!
they owned a ring then strong enough to support Yoko and Mabel? Well shit...
ReplyDeleteI bailed at this point. I was only 12 but I couldn't take anymore. Didn't return until the summer of 1997, when inexplicably that goofy kids show
ReplyDeletefrom when I was younger was suddenly this edgy, dark, badass shit. It was quite
a shock to see how things had moved on while I’d been away.
Plus he could have had a racket-off with Cornette. That stuff would write itself.
ReplyDeleteThe Tatanka heel turn was a missed opportunity. They never had a real blow-off, but a sell out Native American was actually kind of an edgy topic and could have been big heat, tho I wonder if at that stage that was the kind of heat Vince wanted.
ReplyDeleteWhat they should have done is have Tatanka renounce his name and go by his "white name" Chris Chavous to fully sell the whole thing. I don't know, that whole angle was great but I guess Lex was near the end so nobody really cared.
Diesel had a shockingly good match with Lex Luger of all people are this time on Raw, I think it has been reviewed. A motivated Nash really could work.
ReplyDeleteYea, in his defense other than his Shawn and Bret programs, who did he really get to work with that wasent a stiff in the ring
ReplyDeleteWhats he really supposed to do with 4 minute RAW matches against Barbarian and then ppv defenses against Sid and Mabel?
"Finally, the TV blowoff of the house show feud that had been boring audiences around the country!"
ReplyDeleteHey, I was one of those people, 30 minutes of stalling and tests of strength, ending with a small package win, YAY!
Haha, I remember that match. And being the mark that I was, I actually considered Crush to be the weak link of the 4!! Ya know, because being in shape = a bad thing!! Ah, 14 year old me...
ReplyDeleteI hear ya. Not that I considered Crush to be a weaklink, but if you were a big fatass, I assumed you were a badass. It was a big reason why I was a fan of the Natural Disasters.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a good point. Your scenario is one that would have made more sense. It probably wouldn't have drawn any money or anything, but at least it would have been better.
ReplyDeleteI get your point, but I bet 1996/97 Shawn could have gotten *** out of Ottman.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was thinking that Crush disappeared for a long time after this.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. When a turn like that is done the have to capitalize on it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's time for a pissed off Native American going after folks for revenge. Kind of like evil foreigner gimmick but pissed Native. Involve Zeb Colter somehow.
You know, instead of constantly referring to him as "Native American Tatanka" they could have started referring to him as "Casino Owner Chris Chavis."
ReplyDeleteHis finisher MUST be called the Trail of Tears.
ReplyDeleteIn shape? Crush was definitely really bloated from steroids at this point and would get gassed pretty quickly if the pace wasn't somewhere around lumbering. I wouldn't say he was in shape, he just less out of shape than the other three.
ReplyDeleteBecause he's going to feud with Bret?
ReplyDeleteBecause US history.
ReplyDelete"Watching the buildup for Summerslam 94 makes me wonder why the hell I even ordered it at the time."
ReplyDeleteAnswer? Bret & Owen in a cage. That and the fact that you weren't watching Raw at that point to begin with. Not watching it was a better draw than watching it.
Reminds me a friend I use to have back when I was a kid. He didn't have cable so couldn't watch wrestling, but for some reason he loved it despite the minimal viewing and would often get the VHS tapes.
ReplyDeleteHey scott--i used to go to these long ass Raw tapings in 93-94-95. These matches were literally taped at like 11:45-midnight so there wasn't anyone to fill those seats after they left.
ReplyDeleteThat's i how felt--i loved Russo's darker, edgier show. It was obvious a new vision was in place. Oh well :(
ReplyDeleteThe steroid testing was more of less legit in 94 (Vince feared the Government Reaper). So the bodies you are seeing, including Crush was largely natural and not as big or muscular. Luger has said in past shoots that he cheated the tests constantly to look that good (he has since said the opposite once WWE took him back for motivational speaking). It wasn't until late-96/early 97 that drug testing was completely disbanded. Only if you were a known case (like Pillman) did they take you aside and say cool it. Even that didn't work.
ReplyDeleteI still don't buy how legit it was looking at a guy like Crush. He has that bloated look a lot of lifters from the '80s and '90s had going on, retaining a lot of water weight and bulk over straight tone or definition. In fact, his physique from around this time reminded me a lot of Hogan. He also had that weird bloat going on until like '92 when slimmed down.
ReplyDelete"A motivated Nash". There's three words you don't see together often.
ReplyDeleteI feel like that could have been a good feud for Nash's title run. Bad as he was, Diesel wasn't really helped by the lack of interesting competition either. Luger as corporate sell-out working for Dibiase would have been right in his wheelhouse, not the All-American thing that already failed in 93
ReplyDeleteI actually think Nash wasn't bad when someone pushed him. But he could keep up with those guys who pushed him when he was in shape and interested in doing it.
ReplyDeleteShawn went on to have a string of **** matches and didn't draw a dime either.
ReplyDeleteYeah. It didn't have to be quite as bad as it was. He was never going to be "great" in the ring, but they could have played to his strengths a lot better
ReplyDeleteHe was way better as a heel ... its just hard for a hell to get heat on 7 foot monster babyface. How many times can you watch someone work over Diesel's knee before you expose the business?
ReplyDeleteAs proof, Nash's best work started at Survivor Series 95 - nWo, all as a hell.
Yeah, I agree. The dynamic is just off. As evidenced by the Diesel vs. HBK Wrestlemania match where Shawn was supposed to be a heel
ReplyDelete